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January 13, 2006

Canada deports man linked to US bomb plot

by Sam Savage

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada has deported an Algerian man who
was allegedly involved in the so-called millennium bomb plot
against Los Angeles International Airport at the turn of the
century, Canadian officials said on Friday.

Samir Ait Mohamed, 37, who had spent more than four years
in detention in Vancouver, was removed on Wednesday to an
undisclosed country, according to the Canada Border Services
Agency.

Mohamed, who entered Canada in 1997 and made a failed
attempt in the 1990s for political asylum, went to Algeria, CBC
Radio reported.

Officials believe Mohamed was an accomplice of
Algerian-born Ahmed Ressam, who was arrested in December 1999
as he crossed into the United States from Canada with a car
carrying explosives.

"We were of the opinion that he was a danger to the public
and that he should not be allowed to remain in Canada. He has
left Canada," Canada Border Services Agency spokeswoman Janis
Fergusson said.

Ressam initially told U.S. prosecutors that Mohamed had
given him a gun and helped buy parts for the bomb. He then
stopped co-operating with U.S. authorities, which forced them
last year to drop their plan to have Mohamed extradited to the

U.S.

U.S. officials also said Ressam and Mohamed had discussed
bombing a largely Jewish area of Montreal.

Canadian officials had wanted to deport Mohamed after
rejecting his asylum bid but were legally prevented from
sending him to Algeria because of political violence in that
country. Canada has since dropped that restriction.

Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in jail in July 2005 for
plotting to set off a bomb at Los Angeles airport on December
31, 1999.